Re: Guide for Selecting a Discrete Video Card

Small form factor? If yes, then your PC only has a 240 watt power supply. If the PCI riser is not installed then you can install a low profile video card and it needs to be less than 6.6" in length.

Look here at HP Partsurfer for video cards that are used in the newer Slimline models with a 220 watt power supply. These cards were manufactured specially for HP Slimline PCs with 220 watt power supplies. Call HP Partsurfer and verify the length of the card before you buy. The HP NVIDIA GT 530 might work out the best for your needs.

BTW--> The faster PC2-8500 memory might have worked out better for HD video. 800 mhz dimms is the minimum from my observations when working with HD video. If you are rendering HD video to disk then consider installing a SSD.

Re: Guide for Selecting a Discrete Video Card

Regarding the RAM, it is very hard to find PC2-8500 here in Australia. The most common sticks available are the DDR2 800 ones. however, I've found the

KINGSTON KHX8500D2K2/4G HyperX 4GB 240-pin DDR2 memory

on eBay. Will these be compatible?

Also, I found a Gigabyte GeForce GT520 card in my local computer store. It's the only 5xx series closest to the GT 530 card available here. It is Low Profile but its power requirement is 300W. Is this alright?

Also, for the SSD, I'm planning on inserting either a Crucial m4 128GB or OCZ Vertex 4 128GB.

Please let me know if you would like me to start a new thread as I don't want to 'hijack' this thread/guide on video cards.

Re: Guide for Selecting a Discrete Video Card

Would really appreciate if you could help me out with this. I have a HP computer ( Model Number: HPE-171f

OS: Windows 7 64-bit ) I currently have upped the RAM in the computer to the max it can hold and upgraded the power supply to a CX600.

My question for you though was regarding the video card of course. I had my eyes on the new Nvidia GTX 670/680 cards. I realize this is a very tight fit. But I am wondering if this is even doable. I've opened up my computer and looked around but I cant be sure until I actually buy the card. Which for obvious reasons I dont want to do right away.

Re: Guide for Selecting a Discrete Video Card

You are looking at a 9.5" card for the 670 at best and a 10" card for the 680. You really need to do some measuring inside your PC.

You also need to consider the additional heat that the 670 and 680 will generate inside the smallish HP mid-tower cabinet. The 670 is 170 watts and the 680 is 195 watts. What are your plans to deal with the extra heat?

Know what the return policy is before you buy anything.

You might look over the high end video card benchmarks and perhaps consider the AMD 7850. It's a lot cheaper and it's only a 130 watt card.